Developmental Biology Terms
Developmental biology asks how a single fertilized egg becomes a whole organism. These terms cover the making of eggs and sperm, fertilization and the zygote, the germ layers laid down at gastrulation, how organs and the nervous system form, and the genes that pattern the body.
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- EmbryoDevelopmental BiologyAn embryo is an organism in its earliest stage of development; in humans, from about the second week after fertilization to the end of the eighth week.
- Embryonic stem cellStem Cell BiologyAn embryonic stem cell is a pluripotent stem cell taken from the inner cell mass of an early embryo, the blastocyst, and able to form every type of body cell.
- EpigeneticsMolecular BiologyEpigenetics is the study of chemical marks on DNA and its packaging proteins that switch genes on or off without changing the DNA sequence.
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- GameteDevelopmental BiologyA gamete is a haploid reproductive cell, such as a sperm or an egg, that fuses with a gamete of the opposite type at fertilization to form a zygote.
- GastrulationDevelopmental BiologyGastrulation is the stage of early embryonic development in which cells move and fold to turn a simple ball or disc of cells into three germ layers.
- Germ layerDevelopmental BiologyA germ layer is one of the primary cell layers of an early animal embryo (ectoderm, mesoderm or endoderm) from which all its tissues and organs develop.
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- MetamorphosisEntomologyMetamorphosis is a marked change in body form during an animal's development, as when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly or a tadpole a frog.
- MorphogenDevelopmental BiologyA morphogen is a signaling molecule that spreads through developing tissue as a gradient, so cells adopt different fates depending on how much they receive.
- MultipotencyStem Cell BiologyMultipotency is the ability of a stem cell to develop into several kinds of specialized cell, but only those of one tissue or a closely related family.
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- OogenesisDevelopmental BiologyOogenesis is the process by which egg cells form in the ovary, beginning before birth and yielding one mature egg and small polar bodies from each oocyte.
- OrganogenesisDevelopmental BiologyOrganogenesis is the stage of embryonic development in which the three germ layers form the rudiments of the body's organs and organ systems.
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- PluripotencyStem Cell BiologyPluripotency is the ability of a cell to give rise to every cell type of the body, from all three germ layers, though not to a whole organism on its own.
- PupaEntomologyA pupa is the non-feeding stage between larva and adult in insects with complete metamorphosis, during which the body is rebuilt into its adult form.
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- SpermatogenesisDevelopmental BiologySpermatogenesis is the process by which diploid stem cells in the testes divide and develop into haploid sperm, continuing from puberty through adult life.
- Stem cellStem Cell BiologyA stem cell is an unspecialized cell that can both copy itself by dividing and give rise to specialized cell types such as blood, muscle or nerve cells.
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